Advertisers with hair on fire brace themselves for US TikTok ban [Video]

– Advertisers reliant on TikTok as a major digital marketing tool rushed to prepare contingency plans this week, as the realisation dawned on many that the popular Chinese-owned social media app may not be saved before a US ban takes effect on Jan 19.

One marketing executive described it as a “hair-on-fire” moment for the ad world, after months of conventional wisdom saying that a solution would materialise to keep the short-video app up and running.

“It seemed unbelievable even as at just a few weeks ago to imagine that there would be no TikTok,” said Ms Kerry Perse, the founder of marketing firm Influence & Inspire Consulting and former head of social media at Omnicom Group’s media agency OMD.

“We all thought that any access issues to the TikTok app would be slow and drawn-out,” she said.

Chinese tech firm ByteDance is facing a Jan 19 deadline to sell TikTok’s US assets or accept an unprecedented ban of …